Diamondbacks and Phillies NLCS Game 1 Preview

The Diamondbacks are in Philadelphia to take on the Phillies in game one of the National League Championship series. The game is being played at Citizen's Bank Park, and first pitch is at 8:07 P.M. EST, 5:07 P.M. Arizona time.

Broadcast

The game will be broadcast on TBS. The play-by-play announcer will be Brian Anderson, who does Milwaukee Brewers games during the regular season. Former major leaguers Jeff Francoeur and Ron Darling will provide color analysis. Matt Winer will be the dugout reporter.

Lineups

The Diamondbacks are going with the same lineup they've used for all five previous playoff games so far. The D-backs scored 4.6 runs per game and had a team .730 OPS, ranking 7th and 8th in the National League respectively. They've been hot in the post season however averaging 6.0 runs per game and posting a .877 team OPS. They are tied with the Phillies for the most postseason homers so far, with 13. Gabriel Moreno has three of those homers while Ketel Marte, Alek Thomas, and Corbin Carroll have two each. Carroll is hitting .412/.565/.824, 1.389 OPS in 23 postseason plate appearances.

The Phillies scored 4.91 runs per game and posted a .765 OPS, ranking 4th and 3rd in those categories. Their postseason OPS of .892 is just ahead of the D-backs. Trea Turner is on fire batting 12-24, .500 with two homers and a 1.455 OPS. Nick Castellanos has four homers and is batting .391 with a 1.440 OPS. Bryce Harper is right there as well, hitting .368 with three homers and a 1.380 OPS. J.T. Realmuto and Bryson Stott have been getting clutch hits, driving in seven and six runs respectively.

Pitching Matchup

Zac Gallen and Zack Wheeler were two different but evenly matched pitchers in 2023 regular season. Wheeler throws both a four seam and sinker that average 96 and 95 MPH respectively and can top out several MPH above that. He throws both a sweeper and a slider, and is a dominant power pitcher when throwing strikes. Which he does almost all the time, sporting a 1.8 BB/9 ratio this year and 1.9 since signing with the Phillies in 2020.

Gallen's average four seam fastball is 93.6 MPH, but he typically has excellent command. His best offspeed pitch is his curveball but on any given day he will turn to his cutter or change up to dominate hitters.

So far in this postseason both have pitched well, but Wheeler has been more dominant, throwing 13 innings in two starts, giving up four runs, three earned while striking 18 and walking just one. He took the loss in Game 2 of the Division Series against the Braves however, giving up three runs in 6.1 innings.

Gallen has thrown 11.1 innings in his two starts, six against Milwaukee in the Wild Card series and 5.1 against the Dodgers in the Division series. He got the win in both games and has a 3.18 ERA this postseason. He's walked five and struck out eight and given up one homer among his 10 hits allowed.